You can find lots of web sites already devoted to explaining the different methods and philosophies of teaching. There’s classical, lecture, child-led, radical unschooling, eclectic, project-based, relaxed. There’s people’s names like Montessori, Emelio, Waldorf, Birkenstock. Free school. Military style. I’ve never heard of anyone implementing a boarding school at home, but it’s probably working for someone.

I remember being a kid. I remember being in school, being tired and bored. I remember being embarrassed, stressed, anxious. I remember being angry. I remember trying to be invisible and wait them out. I was a mess, I had awful handwriting, I didn’t speak up in class.

But I was a fast reader, a good writer, and I could draw.

This is the experience that qualifies me to educate: I remember being a child. I remember what did not work. And if I quiet my mind and tread carefully back, I can think about what might have worked instead.

At the same time, my kids are not clones of me. They make friends easily. One is a reader, the other is not. They’re more active and flexible and less anxious than I was. They’re also boys, which seems to mainly translate into quantities of fart jokes. So I have to be ready to move everything around to meet them where they are, not just where I imagine they are or should be.

As I write this, I’m realizing that it’s hard to explain. I will be back with examples.

2 Responses to “Schoolifesto”

The words “misunderstood” “conform or be made even more miserable” and “warehouse for offspring of worker-bee/slaves” come to mind when I consider public school then, and now. The corporate curriculums have resurrected the RRR’s and added a layer of hypnosis, but if your kid is smart enough to outsmart the mind control,, it’s just making time till you can go home.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some good people trying to do good things, but the system is not designed to encourage any form of genius or individuality in a world that needs “nerds” and “advocates/activists” and creative genius so much!
My 7 year old would LOVE this!